In the Middle of th Pouring Rain
by Unknown Marauder
Summary: What do you want?" "I want you to love me." OroAnko oneshot. Explination for the title and story inside


Hi again, everyone.

Once again, it is past midnight over in this time zone and I have the odd urge to write. Unlike my last drabble; I have nothing really to fuel this except for my reading spree and the constant repeating of a song in the back of my head.

For all you folks at home, you're probably wondering what song I'm talking about. The song is called 'Love Me', done by a country artist local to my state. No, I do not know her name, and Google searches are not helping me. If anyone's curious, the chorus, which haunts my mind, goes:

Every morning, every evening

Every minute in between

When you're happy, when you're sad

Even when you're sound asleep

When the sun's so bright

You've got to wear shades

In the middle of the pouring rain

Love me

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters used in this fan fiction in any way, shape, or form. They belong to Kishimoto-san.

Warning: OroAnko. You have been warned. If you don't like, don't flame.

XxXxXxXxX

In The Middle of the Falling Rain

Anko tossed another couple of dango sticks into the side of the tree nearest her. It was a calm, late summer evening in Konoha, the kind where you just want to sit back and watch the sun set with he or she that meant the world to you.

Well, that's what it had been, anyways. The sky had become overcast to the point of certain precipitation, and the wind picked up, blowing the first, still green, fall foliage from their branches. It was sudden changes in the weather like this that made the Jonin wish she had actually listened to the news.

The young woman studied the perfectly created leaf symbol she had made with the dango stick, proud, once again, of her marksmanship. Involuntarily, her mind permitted a fleeting image of the man who had introduced the sweet to her, and she looked down with regret at the fact that he, the serpentine bastard she had once called 'sensei' so lovingly, never appreciated her marksmanship.

Walking over to the tree, Anko absentmindedly picked the sticks out of the tree. One, two, three… there were at least ten, and, when the kunoichi reached for the final stick, it happened. A searing pain in her shoulder nearly caused her to fall against the tree. Her curse mark had flared up, sending a burning, agonizing sensation down her entire left arm and back. Normally the pain started as a mere nuisance before reaching this level, but the message, no matter how it was received, was all the same.

He was back, and close.

"Orochimaru," Anko scowled, sending chakra to her grieving shoulder. "You Hell damned son of a-"

A pair of golden eyes pierced the cloudy darkness. "You called, Anko-chan?" Orochimaru's voice forged innocence with every syllable, and each word dripped with malice. It was the same voice, Anko remembered, that had chastised her when she was younger. She turned around slowly, still gripping the spot where the curse seal was embossed into her flesh.

It seemed like a sadistic reunion; the master and the apprentice who would like nothing more than to wrench his head from his body. The two didn't move for a while, each taking in the other's appearance as the first hints of rain began to fall. The spattering of water transitioned into a steady shower before either of them broke the tense silence.

"What are you doing here?' Anko asked, straightening herself from the pitiful, hunched over position he had assumed upon receiving the curse mark's pain. "You have your precious Uchiha, so why don't you just go and leave me the hell alone!"

"Oh, Anko, dear. Your words cut through my heart like a flaming kunai," the Sannin said with bored dramatics, pretending to be wounded.

"You have no heart."

"And you haven't lost your sharp tongue, so I guess we're even."

Once again, the two stood in silence as the rain poured harder and the wind picked up. Orochimaru made his way towards Anko, who took an instinctive step back, but ended up against the tree. That one remaining dango stick poked into the small of her back.

Orochimaru continued his advance. "Now now," he crooned, diabolical smirk plastered to his stark-white face. "I come all this way to say 'Hello', and you're acting like a rabbit caught in a thunderstorm."

The kunoichi glared, pulling the dango stick from the tree and hiding it behind her back. "You never just come to say 'Hello'. What do you want this time? You've already taken my virginity, what else could you possibly want?"

The ex-Akatsuki pondered for a second, and Anko's mind soared back to the days of her training, where he would give that same look as he studded her progress. Back then, she had thought the expression had made him look wise and calculating. Against every piece of sanity and rationality that she still possessed, Anko thought that she had not changed her mind on that matter. She continued to remember various expressions that had once charmed her naive mind and heart, picking through them, wanting to discard them all but never being able to do so. IT was just like sorting through a deceased relative's possessions. A relative whom that you had hated.

"Anko!" Orochimaru snapped his fingers in front of her face, taking her out of her trance. "Pay attention! Your trip down memory lane can wait! Have you even heard I word I told you in the past five minutes?"

Anko impulsively attempted to scoot backwards, away from her angry ex-sensei. There were two things about him that still remained with her to this day, and this, her fear of his anger, was one of them. The other was-

"I am not a man known for repeating myself, but, in this case, I will make an exception," Orochimaru scowled, not moving, golden eyes holding her brown ones in an unrelenting arrest. "I said that my reason for coming here was not to destroy Konoha. Not yet, anyways. Also, I had not, in the beginning, intended to come and find you. My feet, as much as I hate to admit it, got the best of me and lead me through the trees to you. As for what I want…" he trailed off. Before, he had known Anko wasn't listening to him. It was one of those things he learned about her from when he was her sensei. This next part was so much easier to say when she wasn't listening that he had no idea what to do now that she was.

A loud boom of thunder rang through the forest, the lighting which caused it too far away to be seen as of that moment. It was then that Anko took her chance.

Ducking aside of Orochimaru, she quickly moved behind him, the dang stick in her hand, sharp end out, aimed for the back of Orochimaru's throat, which was veiled by thick, wispy, lovely black hair. Thinking about it made her hesitate in spearing the pale flesh that lay beneath, and that moment of hesitation was all Orochimaru needed.

Orochimaru turned with the same speed Anko had moved with, black hair fanning out like a curtain behind him. He grabbed Anko's hand which held the dango stick, keeping it in the air. With his free, left hand, he pulled her close, planting a firm and commanding, yet heartfelt and sincere kiss on her soft lips.

Anko felt herself melt as Orochimaru's tongue, uninvited, shot into her mouth, playing with her tongue, caressing it. It took her all the self-restraint she could muster to keep from moaning out his name, from giving him the pleasure that she was succumbing to him, to her own, hidden desires ever since their last meeting.

"You still haven't answered me," she whispered when he pulled away, allowing her to breathe. "What do you want?"

"I want you to love me."

If Orochimaru hadn't been holding her against him, Anko would have fallen over in surprise. "Wh-what?"

"I know you will never forgive me," he said, stating the obvious. "You will always feel the urge to kill me on sight, you'll always have the curse mark, and then there's that little issue with me having killed the Kage that shows up on my résumé. Not to mention the age gap, and that Kabuto was your first crush, and that you're dating that Copy-ninja."

"Yeah yeah, I know that stuff… you still remember my old schoolgirl crush on Kabuto?" Anko was amazed. That was one of the things she had almost forgotten.

Orochimaru attempted not to roll his eyes and failed miserably. "That's not the point. The point is… As much as I have screwed you over in the past, I have always had an infatuation with you. Not your power, your ability, not your wit. You. You asked me what I want, and what I want most of all, beating out the Destruction of Konoha by a slight margin, is you to love me. Every morning, every evening, and every moment in between. When you're happy, when you're sad… even when you're fast asleep."

As if I can shove his eyes from my dreams in the first place, she thought, feeling her face redden with blush.

"When the sun is so bright, that you must shade your eyes with your hands," Orochimaru said in an attempt to be poetical. Unfortunately, it was obvious that he had never created poetry in his life. "And especially now, standing in the pouring rain. Please, Anko, love me."

As if on cue, a bolt of lightning spider webbed across the cloud-covered sky. The two ninjas one again found themselves kissing just as the thunder following the lightning rumbled to life.

In an instant, he was gone, as quick as he had come, and Anko was left, standing alone. The dango stick was still in her hand, the rain still poured and the curse mark still ached dully, not nearly as bad as earlier. When she arrived home, she took a quick, hot shower, and then plopped onto her bed, curling up beneath the sheets. As she drifted off to sleep, Orochimaru's voice crept into her head once more, repeating two words that she would never be able to forget.

"Love me."

XxXxXx

Well, folks, that is the fruits of my labor. Two and a half hours after my start, it is finished. For those who noticed, I used the lyrics in the story.

Before anyone rants, yes, I know Orochimaru sounds really out of character. When it comes to this pairing, and we're not talking about the time when he was her sensei, it's hard to convey the romance while keeping him in character.

I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing! U.M.


End file.
